Kasson resident perseveres through life’s difficulties

Yvonne (Hemann) Braun grew up on a farm outside of Stacyville, Iowa, with 14 siblings, but her oldest brother passed away in 1951 when he was one years old. Yvonne was the twelfth child and was born on July fourth so her mother called her their little firecracker! They crop-farmed and milked cows and raised cattle, hogs and chickens, and every day they needed to collect over 7,000 eggs from their chicken operation. Many years later the chicken house burned down, and they decided to not continue the egg business.

The school in Stacyville served grades 1-8. The siblings were able to go out for sports when they were in grades 7 and 8. Yvonne convinced her mother so she could try out for the cheerleading squad in grade school versus sports. Her mother thought Yvonne would never be selected, but she was for both years. Since the high school was 15 miles from home, the siblings were not allowed to go out for sports because of the distance and chores were more important,

The day after Yvonne graduated from St. Ansgar High School in 1983, she moved to Rochester and started working as a nanny, and also as a waitress at Embers restaurant for a few years. She later started full-time at BJ Snaps restaurant located in the Apache Mall in Rochester as well as John Barleycorn for several years. These establishments no longer exist. In 1988, she started at Mayo Clinic and worked there until 2004 as an appointment coordinator.

On the morning of Feb. 21, 1990, Yvonne could not feel or lift her left arm when she got up to go to work, and thought she might just be fatigued. She called her work area, and they told her she needed to get it checked out right away. She had gone skiing at Welch Village on New Year’s for the first time, and received a severe bruise to her knee area from a fall. This turned out to be the last time she would ever ski. They think the birth control pills caused a clot to form from the bruise, which later caused a stroke that day — she was only 24.

Fortunately, Yvonne recovered quite well and only has some issues on her left side, more so her left arm and hand, with coordination issues and neuropathy — residual pain, so her skin doesn’t feel but her nerves are hyperactive and feel like holding on to an electric fence. Yet she feels she is very fortunate.

Yvonne married John Sipple in August 1990, and their son Jeff was born in 1991. They built a house near Mantorville in 1993. In 1994, she got divorced and moved back to Rochester.

Yvonne met Todd Braun in 1995. Todd worked for his uncle on a large dairy farm near Elba, Minn. They were married in June 1996, and lived in the Elba area. Todd had grown up in La Crescent, Minn. and went to school there. He then started working for the Rochester Park and Rec Department as a tree trimmer, so he would either be lifted up in a truck bucket or climb up the tree when tree limbs needed to be trimmed or thinned out.

Yvonne and Todd had three sons, but she also had two miscarriages between them. When they sold their home in Elba, they had two weeks to find another house. They were fortunate and found one — moving to their present Kasson home in September 2002. God’s timing was right again.

After leaving Mayo, Yvonne worked for a Somerby builder as a receptionist and pricing coordinator for home interiors. The builder asked if she would consider being a realtor for them, and Yvonne said she would give it a try. After a year, she decided this was not the job she really wanted to do.

In April 2006, she started a daycare service in their Kasson home, and she would also take care of her own young children. That same year, her 83-year-old dad passed away unexpectedly from a brain aneurysm in November.

In July 2009, their nine-year-old son, Nathan, was not feeling well one morning and he started to pass out. When he did not improve, they brought him to the ER in Rochester. A couple of days later, after running various tests, he was diagnosed with “ALL” (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia). Nathan had wanted to get a mohawk haircut, so he got this now as well as some of his classmates. He had chemo and radiation treatments for the first year and then maintenance chemo for the next two-and-a-quarter years. In the first year, he developed a very long clot in his abdomen and leg. He needed to have Heparin shots each day for about nine months. Nathan typically would spend a week in the hospital each month of that first year, so Yvonne and Todd would take turns being there with him during that time. He lost a lot of weight during his treatment period, and needed a feeding tube for three months.

He was not able to attend school in person for a period of time, and a staff member came to their home to work with him on his schoolwork. Nathan was adopted by the K-M football team, and at the homecoming game the other football players also had a mohawk haircut. Yvonne said they received great support from the school and community. Yvonne said once again God put her in the right place with her daycare business, as she could coordinate hospital and medical visits much easier than if she was working for another company.

In 2012, they started attending Community Celebration Church as she admired the faith that church member Amy Anderson expressed (who had a serious brain tumor). They made the move later that year to become members. Yvonne believes that God put her there for a reason.

In April 2013, two weeks after Todd had knee surgery, he was found in a ditch outside of Kasson, possibly re-hurt his knee and fell in a ditch. He died from a combination of hypothermia, pain medications, and alcohol. Todd was a great husband and father.

Yvonne feels that God called him home cause he was having a hard time with his anxiety and PTSD, and now he could be at peace. Yvonne is forever thankful for the Community Celebration church. She attributes so much of her healing through this hard time to their teachings on having a relationship with God and the support they gave her. 2018 was another tough year. Her 24-year-old nephew died in an avalanche while snowmobiling. Later that same year, her sister-in-law became paralyzed from the waist down from a car accident. Again, she relied on her faith through these times.

Her four sons: Jeff is a J-M grad; Ben, Nathan, and Michael are K-M grads. All live and work in the surrounding communities and Michael lives at home. She likes to get together with her sons to hear about what is going on with their lives and their families. She has three grandchildren, including one who gained his wings at the age of 5 1/2 months in July 2021 (he was born with congenital heart defects and died from complications of surgeries).

Earlier that year her mother passed away after a short battle with cancer. Her 92-year-old mother lived at her home in Stacyville. Yvonne and her siblings were able to provide 24-hour care for her until she passed. That is a time Yvonne will always treasure.

Yvonne is still doing in-home daycare in Kasson. She enjoys camping, and has a camper at the Flying Goose Campgrounds near Fairmont. It gives her a chance to relax and wind down after a busy daycare week. She is also a reader, and her choice of books are faith-based or self-help themes.

Yvonne also enjoys going out for walks with her daycare kids around Kasson on a regular basis in the warmer weather. She enjoys concerts, dancing, does some biking, and hanging out with friends and family. She would like to do more drawing, but will paint cartoon characters on a window which the daycare children like to see.

A memorable trip was in 2015 when she and her boys road tripped to Panama City Beach, Fla., and they all really had a great experience sharing that time together. She has been to Jamaica and a couple of times to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. She was scheduled to go on a trip this winter, but the air flights were canceled due to the winter storm conditions. Yvonne said it really did turn out OK as she got her airfare money refunded and was able to get some home improvements finished instead so the timing was right!

Yvonne has been attending Christ Community Church in Rochester, and she really enjoys listening to the praise worship music and hearing the message given. She said when she is camping she can also listen to church services online when she is not attending in person. That is one of the good things that came out of the pandemic.

Coming from a large family, Yvonne said there are 160 in the family in the generations following from her parents. They will have a gathering between Thanksgiving and Christmas each year with around 80 people.

At a summer family reunion, they may have around 100 in attendance when they gather together at a sister’s place. Growing up, Yvonne remembers sitting around the table with 13 people at every meal. It took a lot of food to feed that group, they would make a pot of potatoes, vegetables, and meat and of course homemade bread but now it is much different cooking for one or two at home now!

Yvonne enjoys living in her Kasson neighborhood. She was grateful for the support she has received from the K-M school, and community during her son’s medical treatments, when Todd passed and when her grandson Taysom passed. Even though Yvonne has had her share of setbacks during her life, she feels God has put her in the right place to overcome and move on with her life each time!